<p>Will they contact you by phone? I got an interview request as well.</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know what they will ask you about? Will they ask about specific things from your file, like your essay?</p>
<p>There are plenty of books that talk about interview questions.</p>
<p>@ flyingxuan and Jackms</p>
<p>Thats great news! Offering an interview is definitely a good sign, may I ask, both of you were not interviewed by Harvard before right?</p>
<p>To all the interviewees, good luck with it! I had my interview in March at Harvard by an Admissions officer and the questions they asked were generally "why do you want to transfer?", some aspiration questions and little bits and pieces. You'll be fine.</p>
<p>alwayshere-how did you get your interview so early? I thought everyone got their interviews around mid april. Also, I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the "interview offer by letter" vs. the "alum calls you up and then you get an email a week later saying you were selected for an interview". I seem to recall that an old thread said somewhere that one kind of interview is offered to sure bets and the other is offered for people on the edge- can anyone elaborate on this distinction? I know this is late, but now that I've had my interview and am all done with everything I can possibly do for my application, I'm getting restless.</p>
<p>I also just had my interview about a week ago, I got an e-mail from an alum to set up a time and a few days later got an e-mail from Harvard saying that I had been selected for an alumni interview.</p>
<p>imissboston-i have read the threads you are talking about (search for harvard transfer interview), did you get a letter or an e-mail?</p>
<p>personally, i think that harvard wouldn't make a letter/e-mail disctinction so apparent. I think that they used to use letters and have been doing it by e-mail for the past two years - to me this is what makes sense and is what previous threads on CC support. (I will have been proven wrong if anyone received a letter this year, unless such an applicant received a letter because they specifically did not provide an e-mail adress on their app)</p>
<p>some people have reported that they were asked to interview at harvard with an actual admissions officer, versus the rest who got alumni interviews. I think that they only offer on campus interviews to people who go to school nearby, but the only way we can find out is if people who have received interview requests THIS YEAR, report the circumstances.</p>
<p>to me, it doesnt seem that harvard would try to send such a direct message in such an indirect fashion (paper vs. email, on vs. off campus) and if they really wanted to let people know they were being seriously considered they would send likely letters much in the same way that they do for regular admissions.</p>
<p>that said though, i think having an interview is a good sign - it means that our applications werent bad enough to be thrown out upon first read. some have suggested that of the interviewed approximately 50% get admitted, I would say it is probably less - even though just doing calculations from people who have posted on cc would suggest 50%, we have to remember that rates on CC represent a generally conscientious and concerned group of people and are probably slightly higher than normal. therefore (and this is just a random guess) I would say that having an interview would classify us into an applicant subset with maybe a 10 - 30% acceptance rate, which is still higher than the 3-5% overall rate.</p>
<p>so, in conclusion the only way we can better predict what this means (not that it matters in the end), is if those who have had interviews this year answer the following questions.</p>
<p>Here are the questions with my answers:
alum or admissions officer? alum
is your school in or near MA? several hundred miles away from MA
letter or email from Harvard informing you of interview? email
did your interviewer know anything about you beforehand? nothing</p>
<p>oh and two more...</p>
<p>did you apply as a freshman? yes
were you interviewed as a freshman? yes</p>
<p>Ah, I love your logic. It is true that it doesn't matter in the end-what will be will be, and if I've learned anything from college it's that you can get a fantastic education anywhere. That being said, I'd still love to go to Harvard, and for the sake of procrastination I'll answer the questions as well.
alum
school is 5 hours from Boston
email
interviewer knew nothing (I like this question-it eases my worry that they may have wanted to clear a specific thing up, unless that thing was my reason for transfering to Harvard)
did not apply as a freshman</p>
<p>I mean an interview doesnt really show much. Anyone of the applicants are able to talk about their ambitions, their reasons for transfer and make a good impression. What is there for the interviewer to write? </p>
<p>As far as I can imagine, most of the interviewers just end up praising the student (unless he/she is really that bad). It doesn't give much for the transfer admission to work with when they are all positive comments - its not like the interviewers actually make or break the student.</p>
<p>so take the interview with a grain of salt - sure its a good sign - but i doubt it will add much strength to what is already applicable in your original hardcopy application.</p>
<p>i agree, the interview itself will not have a major impact on our application, it is merely a confirmative measure.</p>
<p>after all, how much can they trust their alumni to provide an accurate assessment of a candidate. alums are not trained admissions officers, and different alumni might impose different standards, especially when I would imagine, harvard has probably several thousand alumni interviewers (im talking about regular and transfers here). so it would make sense for harvard not to give the interview serious import.</p>
<p>however, the fact that we were asked to have an interview indicates that we are being seriously considered for admission, and thus, the group of people interviewed will be admitted at a higher frequency than the general applicant pool.</p>
<p>besides, it is fun to speculate and while away the month or so we have until we find out what happens definitively.</p>
<p>alwayshere - would you mind answering the questions i posed above?</p>
<p>i know that you go to columbia and had a general on campus interview from your past posts,</p>
<p>if you dont mind, would you answer the rest of the questions?
did you receive a letter? interview as a freshman applicant?
did you request to be interviewed on campus, or did they ask you to come to harvard?</p>
<p>@ transferapp07</p>
<p>Don't get me right - interview is a good thing - I was just saying it wont be your make or break thing.</p>
<p>My application is slightly different to you guys - I dont really want to say too much atm. Sorry, hope that is ok.</p>
<p>alum or admissions officer? Admission Officer
is your school in or near MA? on Campus
did your interviewer know anything about you beforehand? nothing
did you apply as a freshman? No
were you interviewed as a freshman? N/A</p>
<p>alum or admissions officer? alum
is your school in or near MA? no
did your interviewer know anything about you beforehand? no
did you apply as a freshman? No
were you interviewed as a freshman? N/A</p>
<p>Just met with an alum. He said that the "mothership" (his word haha) doesn't release any information regarding admissions. He did seem to think thought that getting an interview means that there is a good chance of admissions (this is nothing new). The man I sat down with had interviewed one other transfer candidate from my current school and she got in, but then again the sample size is small. Good luck all!</p>
<p>alum or admissions officer?
- Admission Officer</p>
<p>is your school in or near MA?
- Near MA, interview on campus</p>
<p>did your interviewer know anything about you beforehand?
- The interviewer is the person who reads my application and knows intimate details about it.</p>
<p>did you apply as a freshman?
- Yes</p>
<p>were you interviewed as a freshman?
- Yes, twice. Needless to say, still didn't get in.</p>